Don’t Drink & Drive

I recently was released from prison for drinking and driving, no accidents thank goodness. While I was in prison, I met a young lady whom was in prison for drug addiction. What little books available, I found a book on Pranayama. Everyday her and I would go in the yard and do breathing exercises and basic yoga stances. She was interested in my beliefs so I told her stories that Master Hsuan Hua told in his sutra commentaries. I taught her the basic precepts of morality, the Five Precepts. One day, she told me she was so scared of the violence that persisted in the bunk bed below hers. .. I taught her to recite the Shurangama Heart Mantra 108 times with good intentions. She did that evening and the next morning the authorities closed that building for remodeling and she was moved into another area with new bunkies. I had left prison during the pandemic. Life has been difficult for me not knowing what to do with myself. Then I met my mother’s old friend whom is going through legalities of drinking and driving. He will be imprisoned the next time he is caught drinking and driving. I told him my story which hit him hard. Now he and I are friends, I help to keep him sober. Looking at me knowing what just happened to me is sobering for him. I tell him the horror stories of prison life and he says it keeps him wanting to be sober too. These days, I teach him to be an honest person with integrity, and how beautiful life is being sober. I’ve been thinking of volunteering in the hospitals to keep the dying company. I heard they cry for the comfort of their families. I don’t know if they will allow me, but it wont’ hurt to ask. I have been homeless since I left prison. I have to find some way to keep myself useful.